Hunstanton Trip

"Hunstanton was built as a sea bathing resort by local landowner Henry Styleman Le Strange at the end of the 19th Century. It benefits from looking west over The Wash and as a result is the only place on the East Coast of Britain where you can see the sun set over the sea. The beaches are wide and sandy offering a safe place to relax and play. " That's what it says on the Hunstanton web site. In the past few years, it's been a popular destination for several Centre trips and again topped the list when Lunch Club regulars were asked were they would like to go on their annual day out. (Not entirely true because a sizeable minority would have preferred Sandringham, but anyway ...).

We were determined not to let the weather spoil the fun. In fact it behaved itself. Although the clouds constantly lowered, we were fortunate enough to catch occasional glimpses of Mr Blue Sky and more sunshine than the folks back in Cambridge were enjoying. It was certainly windy by the briny, proving that not only Skegness is bracing, but our contingent were dressed for all weathers so they were neither too hot nor too cold nor thankfully soaked to the skin.

Having disembarked from the coach, our day trippers split up looking for adventure. For instance Norm, pictured centre below, arrived in a suit but left in a new outfit, including a rather snazzy pair of pale blue corduroy trousers which he snapped up at a local retail emporium.

The beaches are certainly "wide and sandy" as the blurb suggests but on this occasion they were almost entirely unpopulated. There were no shipwrecks and nobody drownded and the Shetland ponies looked rather forlorn. But  it's always grand to smell the ozone and harken to the tide relentlessly lapping against the shifting, whispering sands.

Matthew Arnold put it this way:

"Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in"

But then he was talking about Dover Beach, hence the title of the poem, and there aren't too many pebbles at Hunstanton so the quotation is entirely irrelevant.

Hunstanton may not have too many pebbles, but it certainly has some interesting shops with more than interesting names. There's a pet shop called "Top Cat and Tails" (geddit????) a tattoo parlour called "Skins and Needles" and a little shop called "Books and Wool" which believe it or not sells books and wool. If you're thinking of knitting a protective cover for your copy of the latest Harry Potter, it's obviously the place for you.

There are many jewels in Hunny's crown, including a Woolworths, which Cambridge does not have. There's at least one excellent chip shop where they cook the fish to order so that it tastes and feels freshly prepared. Some people find fish and chips rather heavy, but not the vicar of St Paul's or the Centre Manager, both of whom - not for the first time - sampled the wares of this  special establishment. If you ever go to Hunstanton, be sure to visit Supafry Fish N Chips.

At the end of the day, we all agreed that it had been a very successful trip. In the left hand photograph above, Margaret Golding proudly shows off the plastic key ring she won in an amusement arcade. In the right hand photograph, Jean Talbot is obviously enjoying her ice cream.Final verdict on this year's Lunch Club outing: on Wednesday 11 July  we went to Hunstanton and we were all winners.